THE SAGO PALMS, BKEAD-FEUIT, &c. 



SAGO, and starchy matter allied to it, is obtained from many palms. 

 It is contained in the cellular tissue of the stem, and is separated by 

 bruising and elutriation. Prom the soft stem of Oycas circiaaJitf, a 

 kind of sago is produced in the East and West Indies. The 

 finest is, however, procured from the stems of Sayus laevis ($. 

 inermis, of Eoxburgh), a native of Borneo and Sumatra; and 

 Arcnga saccliarifera, or Gomutus saccharifus, of Rumphius. The 

 Saguerus Rumplui, or Netroxylon Sagus, which is found in the 

 Eastern Islands of the Indian Ocean, yields a feculent matter. 

 After the starchy substance is washed out of the stems of these 

 palms, it is then granulated so as to form sago. The last-mentioned 

 palm also furnishes a large supply of sugar. Sago as well as sugar, 

 and a kind of palm wine, are procured from Can/ota urens. 



In China sago is obtained from Rhapisflabelliformis, a dwarfish 

 palm ; and some sago is made from it for native use in Travan- 

 core, Mysore, and Wynaad, and the jungles in the East Indies. 



The trunk of the sago palm is five or six feet round, and it grows 

 to the height of about 20 feet. It can only be propagated by 

 seed. It flourishes best in bogs and swampy marshes ; a good 

 plantation being often a bog, knee deep. The pith producing 

 the sago is seldom of use till the tree is fourteen or fifteen years 

 old ; and the tree does not live longer than thirty years. Mr. 

 Crawfurd says there are four varieties of this palm ; the cultivated, 

 the wild, tone distinguished by long spines on the branches, and a 

 fourth destitute of these spines, and called by the natives female 

 sago. This and the cultivated species afibrd the best farina ; the 

 spiny variety, which has a slender trunk, and the wild tree, yield 

 but an inferior quality of sago. The farinaceous matter afforded 

 by each plant is very considerable, 500 Ibs. being a frequent 

 quantity, \vhile 300 Ibs. may be taken as the common average 

 produce of each tree. 



Supposing the plants set at a distance of ten feet apart, an acre 

 would contain 435 trees, which, on coming to maturity in fifteen 

 years, would yield at -the before-mentioned rate 120,500 Ibs. 

 annually of farinaceous matter. The sago meal, in its raw state, 

 will keep good about a month. The Malays and natives of the 

 Eastern Islands, with whom it forms the chief article of sustenance, 

 partially bake it in earthenware moulds into small hard cakes, 

 which will keep for a considerable time. In Java the word " saga " 

 signifies bread. The sago palm ( Metroxylon Sagus) is one of the 

 smallest of its tribe, seldom reaching to more than 30 feet in 

 height, and grows only in a region extending west to Celebes 

 and Borneo, north to Mindanao, south to Timor, and east to 

 Papua. Ceram is its chief seat, and there large forests of it are 

 found. The edible farina is the central pith, which varies con- 

 siderably in different trees, and as to the time required for its attain- 

 ing proper maturity. It is eaten by the natives in the form of 



